I have worked in the film and television industry for 20 years now. I have at various times worked as a stunt performer, suit performer, and actor working in such films as Iron Man (Iron Man double), 300 (Spartan), Man of Steel (Tor-An), Fox’s Sleepy Hollow (Headless Horseman), Batman V. Superman, and Justice League (Batman double)
I’ve always realized how important body mechanics and movement is to performing and felt confident that I knew pretty much all I needed to create a great performance regardless of the character I was portraying. That is, until I met Paradox Pollack. To even say Paradox is a movement coordinator is highly understating his knowledge and abilities. He’s fantastic at looking at a character that one would think performing well could only be possible through animation and somehow bringing that character to eye-catching life with only human movement.
Working as one of the hero Frost Giants in Thor, it was my great fortune to work with and learn from Paradox. Besides the actors, I witnessed seasoned stunt performers respond to this man in a way that is fairly rare. There were no displays of egos when Paradox taught and rehearsed us. To watch his passion for his craft and listen to him break down the obviously well thought-out aspects of how to portray our characters, even the most skeptical stunt men bought into his teachings. And trust me, unless it’s information is coming right from the director, stunt men can be very skeptical of someone telling them how they should be performing.
I will always be grateful for the things I learned from Paradox about character portrayal. I’ve used them in projects a number of times since then, and I continue to use them to this day.
RICHARD CETRONE
